Active Investment Managers offer $10,000 to prove their way is better

Deadline to participate is Feb. 28

The National Association of Active Investment Managers, or NAAIM, announced that applications are now available on their website NAAIM.org for the sixth annual Wagner Award competition. The paper that demonstrates the best advancement in active investment management, as deemed by NAAIM's judges, will receive $10,000 in prize money. Deadline to participate is February 28, 2014.

NAAIM members are Registered Investment Advisors who believe that active investing is better for the average investor than buy and hold. To support that position, NAAIM holds an annual competition seeking out the best active investment management solutions in the world.

"Active, or as I prefer to say, 'tactical' investment management, can generally avoid severe loss of capital and is what investors need more than the 'beat the market,' investment approaches," explained Greg Morris, chief technical analyst and chairman of the investment committee at Stadion Money Management and chairman of the 2014 Wagner Award Committee.

NAAIM's Wagner Award competition is in its sixth year of honoring and rewarding those who demonstrate advancements in active investment management. The competition is open to a variety of financial services professionals, from academic faculty, researchers and graduate students to investment advisors, analysts and other financial professionals.

Competition participants need to provide either a documented and justified investing ap­proach or an exploration into the validity of active investing. Active investing topics can involve making invest­ment decisions using technical analysis, quantitative analysis, etc. Papers can also address related topics such as position sizing techniques, money management approaches, scaling into and out of trades, exit strategies, etc.

The first-place Wagner Award winner will receive $10,000 and will be given an opportunity to present their paper at the NAAIM annual Uncommon Knowledge conference May 5 - 7, at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Free conference attendance, domestic air travel and accommodations at the Hyatt will be provided.

Second and third place papers can receive $3,000 and $1,000, respectively and are awarded at the judges' discretion.

It's easy to apply! Just go to the Resources menu on the NAAIM Website, and look for the Wagner Award page. There you will be able to get more information on the competition, plus review winning papers from last year.

Final papers (up to 30 pages) together with a required 750-1000 word abstract must be submitted electronically to: info@naaim.org by February 28, 2014 to qualify for the competition. Awards will be announced by March 31, 2014. Winning papers will be posted to the NAAIM web site for your reference and publicized by NAAIM.